Almost a Queen: Mary de Bohun, c 1368-1394

The women who married into the Plantagenet family provided vital links between the generations, even if they never wore a crown.  One such was Mary de Bohun, c 1368-1394, the wife of Henry of Bolingbroke, the future Henry IV.  She would give birth to four remarkable sons who fit the term, band of brothers, even if the phrase was a later invention.

Mary herself had lion's blood.  Her father was Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford.  Her mother, Joan FitzAlan,  was the daughter of the 10th Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of Lancaster, daughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, a grandson of Henry III.  Mary was also a descendant of Welsh prince Llewellyn the Great.  Mary and her sister Eleanor were the sole heirs to their father's vast inheritance.  Eleanor was married to another Plantagenet, Thomas of Woodstock.  In order to keep the entire FitzAlan inheritance for Eleanor, Thomas tried to force Mary, who was 14 years old, to become a nun.  John of Gaunt and Mary's aunt stole her away from Thomas and took her to Arundel Castle, where she married Henry of Bolingbroke in 1380.  John of Gaunt wanted to keep the marriage unconsummated until Mary was at least 16, but Mary and Henry had other plans.  She soon became pregnant with a child that lived only a few days after birth. 

Mary was at Monmouth Castle where she gave birth to the future Henry V, 1386-1422.  Next came Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence, 1387-1421, John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, 1389-1435, and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, 1390-1447.  Two girls followed, Blanche, 1392-1409, who later married the Elector Palatine of the Rhine.  Philippa, 1394-1430, married Eric of Pomerania and eventually became Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.  Thus, all of Mary's surviving children did quite well for themselves.  All the boys were able military commanders, Henry V being the victor of Agincourt and John of Bedford being Joan of Arc's nemesis.  Mary didn't live to see her children grow up.  She died in childbirth to Philippa and was buried at the Church of Annunciation of Newarke in Leicester.  The elaborate Psalter given to commemorate her and Henry's marriage survives, showing her likeness on the cover.

Prince: Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York, 1373-1415

It's a memorable part of the play Henry V.  The King has just given his St. Crispin's Day speech and his cousin, Edward of Norwich, Duke of York, kneels to beg the honor of leading the English vanguard into action at Agincourt.  The King grants it and poor but lucky Edward goes off to immortality.  In fact, Shakespeare made use of Edward of York's character in two places, but we'll get there in due time.

Edward, 1373-1415, was the oldest son of Edmund of Langley, Duke of York and son of Edward III.  Most Plantagenet princes had two designations, the place where they were born, and their ducal titles.  On this basis, some have asserted that Edward bore the designation of Norwich, though that was likely a later addition to distinguish him from that other Edward of York, the future Edward IV.  Edward, of Norwich that is, would hold important posts in the reign of Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V.  Thus, by the time he came to his fate on the field Agincourt, he was a seasoned courtier, statesman and soldier of many years standing.

Under Richard II, his first cousin, he was Lord Admiral of England and a member of the King's Council.  He would later hold other positions such as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Constable of the Tower, and Keeper of the Channel Islands.  He was also created Duke of Aumale, part of the family's French possessions.  Edward remained loyal to Richard during the turbulent final portion of his reign, even leaving with him on a campaign to Ireland just as Henry of Bolingbroke landed in England at the head of an invasion fleet in 1399.  However close Edward felt personally toward Richard, self-preservation for himself and his family was paramount and he deserted to Bolingbroke's standard.  He was one of those who went to Flint Castle to prevail upon Richard II to abdicate.

Under the new Henry IV, yet another first cousin through John of Gaunt, Edward's situation was dicey at first.  Many still suspected him because of his long loyalty to Richard II.  For a time, he was stripped of his offices and imprisoned in Windsor Castle.  Henry IV finally relented and restored Edward to his seat on the Council and his position as Keeper of the Channel Islands.  He was eventually made Keeper of North Wales and Lieutenant of Aquitaine.  In 1402, Edmund of Langley died and Edward succeeded his father as Duke of York.  Trouble brewed in 1405, when Edward was implicated in a conspiracy with Welsh leader Owen Glendower and members of the Mortimer family and the Earl of Northumberland to wrest power from Henry IV and divide the kingdom up amongst this group of plotters.  Edward was imprisoned again, but back within Henry IV's favor months later.  He was lucky.  He could have been accused of treason and been yet another prince in a tower.  During the later parts of Henry IV's reign, Edward kept himself in France and stayed out of trouble.  He was master of Henry IV's hunting hounds and translated a French treatise on hunting, adding his own material, which later became known as The Master of Game.

Henry IV died in 1413 and his son, Henry V succeeded to the throne.  In France, Edward was part of the negotiations for the marriage between Henry V and Catherine of Valois.  As tensions with France escalated, Edward's younger brother, Richard of Conisborough was implicated in yet another plot against the King, the Southampton Plot.  Edward was implicated but departed for France just as his brother was arrested and later beheaded.  He was at the Siege of Harfleur before leading the English vanguard to the fateful meeting at Agincourt, where he was, in fact, the leader of the English right wing.  During the battle, Henry V had to go to the aid of his younger brother, Humphrey of Gloucester, another interesting character, and was at risk of being killed by one of the French commanders, Joan of Arc's supporter, the Duke of Alencon.  Edward of York put himself in Alencon's way to protect the King and sustained a head injury from which he died.  With the battle won and Edward having died a hero, the King could not deprive the Yorks of their property, though the next heir in line was Richard of Conisborough's son, the father of the future Edward IV and Richard III.  Young Richard succeeded to his uncle's title and became, through his granddaughter Elizabeth of York, the ancestor of every English King since Henry VIII.

Edward was married twice, once to a Portuguese princess, Beatrice, and secondly to Philippa, the daughter of John, Baron de Mohun.  Neither of these marriages produced children.  Edward's body was brought back and buried in the church at Fotheringhay, which still stands even though the namesake castle no longer exists.  A monument to Edward of York dates from the Elizabethan era.  Meanwhile, in addition to his heroism in Henry V, Shakespeare also used Edward's character in Richard II as the Duke of Aumale. 

Double Feature: Isabella and Catherine of Valois, Sisters and Queens

Women of royal families began their official lives young, betrothed and then married to foreign suitors.  And, if died, these young brides were quickly recycled, the word choice is deliberate, put back on the marriage market again, and sometimes again.  Only rarely were they allowed to chart their own destinies.  Two of the daughters of Charles VI of France and Isabeau of Bavaria illustrate this contract perfectly.

Isabeau of Bavaria had 5 daughters, two of whom became Queens of England, another the Duchess of Britanny, another Duchess of Burgundy and one a nun.  This was a good dynastic record for that generation of the Capet family.  Two of their daughters married Plantagenet kings.  The first up was Isabella, 1389-1409.  Isabella was just seven years old in 1396 when she married the widowed Richard II, who was 22 years her senior.  Not surprisingly, they didn't live together as husband and wife.  Richard took care of his child bride, providing for her safety by sending her to Porchester Castle while he left to campaign in Ireland.  Her tenure as Queen of England was short-lived.  Richard was deposed in 1399 and dead by 1400.  The incoming King, Henry IV, ordered young Isabella to move out of Windsor Castle, but had no intention of returning her to France.  She was too valuable a prize to waste.  He wanted to marry her to his own son, he future Henry V.  Isabella, however, still only 11 years old, stood her ground.  She intended to remain in mourning for the husband who had treated her so well and wanted to return to her French family.  Henry IV eventually let her go.  Isabella would ultimately marry her cousin, the Duke of Orleans, give birth to a daughter, Joan, but die in childbirth at the age of 19.

But the Plantagenets hadn't given up on a Valois bride for Henry V.  Isabella's younger sister Catherine, 1401-1437, would be 18 years old when she married Prince Henry in 1420.  Henry was already the victor of Agincourt and quite a catch.  Catherine was crowned with him in 1421 and quickly became pregnant with a son.  Henry returned to France to resume fighting the final stages of the Hundred Years War.  Catherine gave birth to a son, the future Henry VI.  Henry V died during the Siege of Meaux in 1422.  His son was King of England at the ripe age of 8 months, and Catherine was a young Queen Dowager.  There was no going home for her.  She was now the mother of a Plantagenet lion and had a royal legacy to protect. 

Catherine was still young and marriageable.  There was talk of her marrying a powerful English noble, perhaps a member of the royal family.  To control this, Parliament passed a law requiring anyone marrying the Queen Dowager to have the King's consent, only after Henry VI had attained the age of majority.  As he was still a school-age child, the nobles thought they'd put a lid on this problem for now.  They had reckoned without Catherine's heart and her basic need for human companionship.  She fell in love with a member of her household, Own Tudor, and by 1431 gave birth to their first child, Edmund.  Parliament at first was lenient with Owen Tudor, granting him the rights of an Englishman.  Owen and Margaret would have six children, four of whom would live to grown up.  Edmund, Jasper, Owen, Jr., and Margaret, who would later become a nun. 

On January 3, 1437, Catherine died at Bermondsey Abbey, shortly after her last childbirth.  She had gone to the Abbey seeking a cure for a condition otherwise unspecified.  At the time of her death, her eldest son Henry VI was 15, considered an adult by the standards of the time, though a young one and still vulnerable, particularly given his mental issues.  Owen Tudor had only Henry's goodwill toward himself and his children to stand between him and the wrath of the nobles.  Henry's Council summoned Owen to appear before them on charges of having broken the law by marrying Catherine.  There was no proof of any marriage and nothing in the law preventing Catherine from having had a sexual relationship without the King's permission.  Owen couldn't be charged with a crime, but he was separated from his children and placed in Newgate Prison, but later moved to Windsor Castle.  Later, he would be reunited with his sons under the care of Katherine de la Pole, Duchess of Suffolk.  Henry VI took an interest in his two younger brothers.  Edmund became Duke of Richmond and Jasper became Duke of Bedford.

Edmund later married Margaret Beaufort, a wealthy heiress and Plantagenet by descent with a claim to the throne in her own right.  She bore him Henry Tudor, the future Henry VII.  The Tudors would claim the throne through Margaret's biological rights, and legally as heirs to Henry VI through a fictional marriage to Catherine of Valois.  This was pure smokescreen, as Catherine couldn't have transmitted any royal rights to her possibly illegitimate Tudor offspring, and Henry had to cement his claim with a marriage to Elizabeth of York, but propaganda is usually built on alternative facts, anyway.  Meanwhile, Catherine's tomb in Westminster Abbey was inadvertently destroyed during renovations by Henry VII.  Perhaps not wanting to call attention to her off-the-record 2nd marriage/relationship, he didn't have the tomb repaired.  The lid of the coffin exposed the body and-here we go with another creepy story about corpses, yuck!.  The corpse became a tourist attraction.  In 1699, diarist Samuel Pepys visited the Abbey and was able to both embrace "had the upper body in my hands" and kiss, "I did kiss a Queen."  Victoria did Catherine a favor and had the tomb repaired, with the body out of sight and out of reach!